SPORTS

The second phase of the 14th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be held at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in wake of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in India.

Phase 2 of IPL 2021 will begin on September 19 with a clash between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings.

The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) has announced that qualifier 1 would be played on October 10 in Dubai while the eliminator would be held at Sharjah on October 11.

Following the collapse of the government at the weekend, Hamid Shinwari, CEO of Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), on Friday said that the team is once again preparing for their one-day series against Pakistan, scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka in two weeks.

"We will be playing a series vs Pakistan, we are also good to go for the T20 World Cup," said Shinwari.

Sri Lanka's cricket board earlier this week said it was still hoping to host Afghanistan and Pakistan for the three matches in an empty stadium at Hambantota.

The one-day international series starts from September 3.

The Indian bowlers put up quite the show on the final day of the Lord’s Test which helped the team bundle England out for 120 in chase of 272. India required 51.5 overs to skittle the hosts and register a memorable win at Lord’s to go 1-0 up the five-Test series with Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah sharing seven wickets to inflict the bulk of the damage.

Ravindra Jadeja once again went wicketless in the match, which means this was only the third instance in history – twice in two matches – that all 20 wickets in a Test match were claimed by India’s pacers. If at Trent Bridge, it was Bumrah who made the noise by picking up a five-for in the second innings and thus, finishing the match with a nine-wicket-haul, at Lord’s, it was pacer Siraj, who shone through.

India and England's Test encounter at the Lord's witnessed a lot of verbal volleys between the two sides and heated clashes between players as the match ended in a dramatic fashion, with the visitors running away with a 151-run win.

Meanwhile, England head coach Chris Silverwood has issued a warning to Virat Kohli and Co. ahead of the third Test and said that they are not "scared of a fight" and they would "push India back" if they try to push them.

"The one thing we're not scared of is a little bit of a fight," Silverwood said. "They push us, we push back, to me it creates great Test cricket. We're disappointed with the result, but what a Test match to watch. There has been a little bit of fire in there, emotion from two sets of proud players representing their country. I think it's great, the guys are getting stuck into this fight and I am enjoying it."

Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja said that England will find it difficult to recover from their defeat to India at Lord's in the second Test. India beat England by 151 runs, taking the last wicket with just under eight overs left on the fifth day, in a match that the hosts dominated until the first session on Monday.

"Even if this Test was drawn with the hosts 7-8 wickets down, it would have been a moral victory for India. But following this defeat, it will be very difficult for England to stand up in the remaining Test matches," Raja said on his Youtube channel.

"They should have drawn this game, but India forced them into a corner with their aggression, and made life difficult for them. England did not play their natural game because of India's exemplary bowling, and the innings became stagnant," he said.